Changes
by Soulreciever
Summary: Reality is begining to seep into the Host club's fantasy world. AU
1. graduation

Changes.

1. Graduation.

T: My first jaunt into the fandom but I'm not new to the world of fan fic so please don't be afraid to be honest with me! I've attempted to avoid the OOC but doing this sort of storyline for Ouran makes it hard going! Also this is more anime based than manga if only because I like the sillier edge the anime has! I own only the plot, which is a shame because I could do so very much with Haruhi.

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For a year she'd been a reluctant member of the Host Club, the debt that tied her to the association and those that worked within it, growing and shrinking at the whim of the club's 'shadow king'.

Then two of the six members of the club had graduation and suddenly everything had begun to change.

It had been a gradual thing which had started with the speech that Tamaki had made at Honey's graduation party, that had led to her being swept into the oddest of plans and that would end in another change.

Whether that final change would be one for the positive was something she was just going to have to find out.

The party that had started the whole affair had been made a mandatory thing by Kouya and thus, aware that she could be better spending her time elsewhere; she'd spent the first hour in the worst of moods.

Honey had eventually worked her out of this 'frump' with a cute little pout and the childish enquiry of,

"Aren't you going to miss me, Haru-chan?"

She'd been startled by the raw honesty hidden well within the childish tone of the question and, guilty at having, unconsciously, hurt the other, she's replied,

"Of course I will, Honey-sempi."

"Then come and play with me!" She'd not really understood the logic and yet she'd indulged him anyway, the slight ache she'd felt in her heart as she'd run around after the other making little sense until after Tamaki's announcement.

The announcement had come mid way through the evening, when they'd all been sat together enjoying an exquisite banquette constructed from foods that she'd only ever dreamed of.

It'd started in the traditional Tamaki manner, all wide gestures and sugar coated words, then, without pause or breath it'd changed.

Suddenly the princely facade had fallen from the club leader and she had been looking at the 'true' Suoh Tamaki, at the drive that had enticed five conflicting personalities to work together for one aim.

With this true face Tamaki had talked a little of the Host Club's first stumbling weeks, of mishaps and angry misunderstandings that she'd not been a part of and then he'd turned to the future.

"With Honey-sempi and Mori-sempi stepping out into the corporate world we can not now continue to run the Host Club as we have been.

"After discussing the matter carefully with Honey-sempi, Mori-sempi and our customers, I have decided that the club will now be held exclusively on Sunday afternoons." There had been a mummer of discontent from the twins once Tamaki had concluded and the 'king's' sparkly façade had slipped back into place in order that eh might placate the duo.

The ache in her heart had returned at Tamaki's words and this time she'd understood its cause all too well.

…Had understood that, from this moment on, she'd not see either Honey or Mori with the regularity that she'd become accustomed…

…Had understood that, at last, reality had begun to filter into the club's fantasy world.

A week later she'd caught the twin's whispering to one another just before the start of class, the grim expression imbedded on their faces a quick tell that this was something more than their usual mischief.

She'd been curios enough about the matter that she'd pushed her way in between the pair and, looking from one to the other, she'd enquired,

"What are you two discussing with such serious faces?"

As expected the pair had replied, in perfect synchronicity, "Nothing," and, very aware of their mind set, she'd remarked,

"I'm sure that it was boring anyway."

Kaoru's mouth twitched into a devilish smile and, winking at his brother, he'd replied,

"You are right, Haruhi, it's not something that you would be interested in…"

"…It's not as if you care about milord…" This was Hikaru, his words cutting across his brother's perfectly so it seemed as only one individual was talking,

"…So it won't concern you that he's leaving at the end of the year..." Kaoru this time, his timing as perfect as his brother's,

"…And that the club will end once he is gone." Hikaru concluded.

She had not, before this 'conversation', thought about Tamaki's graduation at the end of the year, what it would mean for the club and by association, what it would mean for the matter of her remaining dept.

Once the thought had entered her head, however, it would not let her be.

She was surprised to find that it was the thought of Tamaki leaving, rather than living the rest of her life bound up by a dept she could never repay, that worried her the most.

It was something that'd confused her until she'd come to a logical, if somewhat disturbing, conclusion.

Somehow the vain, snobbish, clumsy, inexplicably childish, 'king' of the Host Club had, with his dazzling smile and faltering naivety, stolen her heart away.

Once she'd realised this fact she'd found, much to her horror, that she could not be in the same room as the other without beginning to stare at him or, even worse, blushing ever so slightly.

She'd attempted to squash these somewhat immature responses and force herself to respond to his presence in the same uncaring manner as she always had.

It'd become quickly apparent that such an approach was pointless, in realising her feelings for the other she had, after all, changed the nature of the interaction between them.

Thus, aware that her distracted manner would soon lose her precious customers, she had done what had seemed to be the only logical thing and talked to Kouya.

The shadow king had seemed a little taken aback by her willingness to share such personal information with him and, wishing to have the matter 'dealt' with as swiftly as possible, she'd enquired,

"Do you think it would have been more sensible to talk to my father about this?"

There had been a momentary pause as Kouya had envisioned Ranka's reaction to this particular piece of news and then, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he'd said,

"The solution to this particular problem is very simple."

"Yes?"

"You must tell Tamaki." She'd felt a blush spring to her cheeks and, much to her annoyance, she'd been unable, for a moment, to do anything other than stutter.

Once she'd again found some coherency she'd said,

"Firstly, wouldn't it be a little direct to simply confess out of the blue? Secondarily wouldn't such a confession be detrimental to the club?"

"To your first point, Tamaki would not believe anything other than a confession from your own lips and to the second..." He paused a moment and then, an almost wistful smile on his lips, he'd said, "After graduation it shall become impossible for Tamaki to dedicate the time to the club that he desires and soon enough this fact would become as burden and infuriation to him.

"Thus we have, the two of us, agreed that, at the end of this year, the club will be disbanded.

"The damage your confession might cause to the productiveness of the business is all but inconsequential."

"I see." She'd thought to make good her escape then, the atmosphere in the air, as well ad Kouya's uncharacteristically nostalgic mood, making her more than a little uncomfortable.

She'd only gotten as far as the door before the shadow king had informed her,

"If you confess I shall completely erase the remainder of your dept."

She'd been unable to resist such incentive and she'd promised the other that she'd talk to Tamaki when the opportunity arose.

Somehow the twins had gotten wind of this promise, which had lead to the pair concocting an odd little plan and to everything snowballing rather out of control.

Thus she had come to be stood outside the door to the music room dressed in a rich yellow summer dress and feeling oddly uncomfortable.

Taking a breath she stepped into the room just in time to hear Kaoru conclude,

"…that is why she'd been dressing as a boy and helping us in the Host Club."

There is a general sympathetic murmur from the customers and then, without warning, Hikaru is pulling her into the centre of the room.

The instant they register her presence they borage her with questions, hugs and pitying words which is stopped only when Tamaki pulls her out from amid the throng of women.

There is a true hurt hidden well beneath his host's smile and, wishing to erase the guilt she feels for her part in that wound, she informs him,

"I didn't know they were going to do this until this morning."

"If you had know you would have told me, wouldn't you, Haruhi? You trust daddy, after all."

It would be stupidly simple to make some sarcastic remark, to run away from the dangerous unknown of her feelings and yet she had no want to do as such.

Thus fixing the other in her eyes, she enquires,

"How serious are you about this 'daddy' business, sempai?"

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T: Next chapter Tuesday. Until then r+r. No I'm not going to tell you what happens next!


	2. Living

2. Living. 

T: Part two and having no wish to spoil things I'm jumping in with warnings…potential OOC, though I've tried really hard to keep it out and slight angst though nothing overly EMO! I do not own anything other than the plot, I still morn this fact!

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"How serious are you about this 'daddy' business sempai?" There us a brief moment where Tamaki is completely speechless and then he is sweeping her into a bone crushing hug,

"Haruhi, forgive me, clearly I have not showered you wish enough affection of late.

"From now on you're daddy's number one priority!"

Squashing the impulse to beat some sense into the other she extricates herself from his grasp and, fixing him again in her eyes, she says,

"I believe you have misunderstood the intent of my question, sempai. I did not ask because I doubted that you 'cared' for me, but rather because I wanted to know how deep that care ran."

Tamaki flushes this time and, at last, his host's composure falters just slightly,

"I…that is to say…"

"Do you love me sempai?" The blush vanishes and, his face relaxing again into something other than his host's mask, he replies,

"Yes, with all my heart." Her heart leaps at that and, taking his hand into hers, she remarks.

"I am glad." His fingers tighten, all but imperceptibly about hers and, pulling her closer, he enquires,

"Because you love me also?"

"Yes, with all my heart." As he kisses her she forgets that she is Fujioka Haruhi, strong willed, intelligent scholarship student.

…Forgets that there is the matter of his wealth and her dreams still between them.

…becomes only a woman locked into an intimate moment with the man she loved.

………………………………………………………………………………..

It'd not been the most peaceful of relationships, the vast difference in their natures meant that there would often be misunderstandings or harsh words between them. Also, it was hard for Tamaki to let go the pity he felt for her 'common' upbringing and for her to display her emotions in the open and care free manner that he so desired.

However, when they weren't fighting, when she was wrapped into the strength of his embrace and he was inhaling the subtle scent of her shampoo…

…in moments such as those everything was perfect and all that truly mattered was that they were together.

With Tamaki's graduation just around the corner such peaceful moments had become few and far between and, desperate to squash the infuriation she felt due to this fact, she'd buried herself deep into her studies.

She'd been working her way through a particularly complex legal argument when she'd been grabbed from either side and dragged, forcefully, into a vacant classroom.

It'd been of little surprise when she'd discovered the identity of her 'kidnappers' and, biting back her anger, she'd enquired,

"What are you two up too?"

"It's a secret." They'd handed her an elegant dress then and, without further explanation, stepped back out into the hall.

Aware that she would now be unable to return to her studies and, curious to see what lay at the heart of this particular scheme, she'd changed into the dress and stepped back out into the hall.

She is greeted, not by the twins, but by the more elegant form of Ootori Kouya, dressed, to her surprise, in the black and white hues of a traditional waiters outfit.

"I don't suppose you wish to tell me what is going on, do you?"

"I have been asked to retain my silence." There is a trace of annoyance in his eyes that she knows well and sighing, she enquires,

"Why can he never do anything without theatrics?"

"A question that I believe we shall never know the answer to." Kouya replies before offering her his arm, "If you would care to follow me."

He leads her to the third music room and, once he has pushed the door open, he announces,

"Welcome, princess."

A circular table for two sits in the middle of the room, its surface, as well as various others about the space, adorned with a single candle that, along with its fellows, adds an extra air of intimacy to the space.

Tamaki is leaning against the edge of the table, the deep navy of the suit he is wearing intensifying the violet of his eyes and making him all the more handsome.

It has been long enough since the last they were together that she feels, suddenly, nervous and, turning her head a little from him, she remarks,

"Good afternoon."

The next she is aware his warm fingers are pushing her chin up in order that he might look her in the eye and, a warm smile on his lips, he enquires,

"Good evening, my fair lady, would you care to grant me the honour of your company?" She accepts with a gentle nod of her head and he guides her, like a true gentleman, into her seat.

She becomes lost, for a while, in the spell of his charm, her infuriation and her worries melting, for the moment, into insignificance.

Their conversation is interrupted, momentarily, by a waiter setting a simple soup before them and, turning her head to thank the man, she is met with Kouya's cool gaze.

Once he has left them alone again she enquired,

"Why is Kouya waiting upon us?"

"You would have become self conscious if I hired someone and so, as I had a want for you to relax, I asked Kouya to help."

"Did you offer him something in payment for his 'services'."

"Yes, but you needn't worry about it." The smile on his face had stopped all further enquiry and, as the afternoon wore on, she soon forgot the matter completely.

Once she had finished her desert Tamaki had reached across the table and, catching hold of her hand, he had said,

"Haruhi, I have loved you for the longest of times, have watched you blossoming into an intelligent young woman and, in doing as such, I have fallen even harder for you.

"I want to spend my life making sure you are happy and, in doing as such, proving how much I care for you." He kisses her hand and, with perfect fluidity, he falls onto one knee, "Fujioka Haruhi, would you grant me the honour of being my wife?" She regards the plain band of gold clutched into his hand for the longest of times then, a smile tugging at her lips, she replies,

"Of course I shall."

She is swept, then, into an enthusiastic kiss and she suffers the treatment a great while before she enquires,

"You've offered to sell Kouya our wedding photos haven't you?"

Her Fiancé smiles innocently and, hugging her tightly he replies,

"Why worry about such things now, love? We have an engagement party to plan!"

It'd be such a shame to spoil his happiness, especially when she felt, at the moment, as though she were walking on air.

Thus she decided to let him have this victory…

..She could always tell him off later, after all.

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T: One more chapter to go and I should get that up tomorrow! Until then R+R.


	3. Truth

3. Truth.

T: This is a teeny weenie chapter when compared to the other two; hopefully it makes up for it in content! Warnings remain the same and I still fail to own the series!

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Once the levity of their engagement had faded a little, they had sat down together and discussed their next step.

They had to let their parents know of the relationship and of their reasons for remaining silent for as long as they had.

It was a task that Tamaki had found easy enough, his father, who was of a similar nature to his son, being swept into the romance of it all and his mother content that her child had, at last, found happiness.

He would, at some point, have to face his grandmother with the news, a task he had chosen, for the moment, to ignore completely.

She had thought simply to wait until the weekend and then take her father out for a little sight seeing before sitting him down and talking over her truth sensibly. Then her drama loving fiancé had become involved and suddenly she had had a scheme on her hands.

Thus, when Thursday morning had rolled around, she had cornered her father and, her most pleasant smile on her lips she had said,

"Do not work on today, father."

"Why?"

"I have something that I wish to talk to you of." This had, of course, released a borage of questions that she had evaded with the well practiced 'I have to study' ploy.

She had hoped that, until the evening, that would be the end of the matter and yet, mid way through her morning study, her fiancé had come to her nursing a 'crisis of confidence'.

Reluctantly she'd spent the rest of her free period appealing to his ego by assuring him, "It's your plan, isn't it? How could it possibly go wrong?" something that had eventually revived his confidence and put the bounce back into his step.

They'd walked back to her house together, the warmth of his presence at her side easing the nervousness she had begun to feel.

Her father had returned just as she was pulling the main course from the oven, the cheer with which he announces this fact fading swiftly as he notes their 'visitor'.

"Haruhi, would you mind fetching the broom? It seems a pest has gotten into the house and I wish to shoo it away."

"Tamaki is here as my guest, father, thus I would ask you to mind your manners."

Her father had fallen, then, into a Tamaki like funk, only the promise of a slightly 'up market' meal pulling him free from his 'corner of wo'.

By the main course Tamaki had, with the subtle use of his host's charm, managed to pull Ranka from this poor mood and, though the elder man was being far from civil, it was as a step in the right direction.

Once they'd finished the meal and, between the three of them, cleared away the dishes, her father had enquired,

"So what did you want to talk to me about, Haruhi?"

She can not work her way around so direct a question and, stretching to claim Tamaki's hand, she says,

"Tamaki and I are engaged, father."

"I thought that it might be something like that." He sighs and, running a hand through his hair, he says, "No matter how I say this it's going to sound harsh and so I'm just going to get it out,

"You are from two very different worlds and, sooner or later, that is going to become very apparent to you.

"Haruhi, all you have wanted for the longest of times is to follow in your mother's footsteps, a dream that you'd have to set aside if you fell pregnant.

"Tamaki, you are used to the high life, used to having everything handed to you. Can you honestly tell me that you'd give that all up to be with my daughter?"

"I'd live in a cardboard box, completely naked, if it meant that I could be with your daughter."

"You mean that now but will you mean it later, when the lust has gone and all you are left with is bitter sweet memories?"

"Can you tell me truly that that was all that was left between mother and yourself? Can you look me in the eye and say that you gave up loving again simply for the sake of nostalgia?" She enquired, the irrational anger in her heart driving the words and the sharp venom behind them.

Her father smiles then and kissing her gently on the forehead he remarks,

"No, it was not and I'm certain now that it will not be the case between you two either."

"So you were testing us?"

"Maybe."

She is about to tell him off when Tamaki grabs a hold of his hands and says,

"What a beautiful show of your fatherly devotion!" Her father reacts to the charm in his normal manner and she watches the pair with a terrible sense of foreboding.

Her life was never quite going to be the way it had before she'd realised her heart…

Maybe that'd mean that, somewhere down the line, she'd look back at who she had been with a wistful eye. Or, more likely, it would mean that she'd become something more than she might have been...

…That his love and his faith would make her stronger.

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T: Warned you it was teeny! I was tempted to do the face off with nana Suoh but eventually I talked myself out of it…the angst would have ruined the mood of the story!


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